How effective is performance management?
One could argue that some form of performance appraisal has been in existence since the time of the Roman Empire. But it wasn’t until after World War II that formal approaches began to appear. Finally, in the 1980s, performance appraisal became performance management, and the process started to become more than just a once-a-year event and began to involve feedback, goal-setting, and self-reviews. But does performance management work? Numerous industry surveys suggest that indeed it does not. In a recent Andersen survey, less than 5 percent of managers and employees alike were very satisfied with the process in place at their companies. Here are some reasons for the dissatisfaction: • Managers have no training. • Managers want to be liked. • Setting goals is tough and imprecise. • There are few consequences for notconducting performance reviews. • Ratings are not consistent among raters. • Leaders don’t set the example. The Andersen survey also found that approximately half of HR profe
